


accountability

by ignitesthestars



Category: Star Wars Sequel Trilogy
Genre: Adrenaline, F/M, First Kiss, Fluff, Kissing, Romance
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-09-17
Updated: 2018-09-17
Packaged: 2019-07-13 09:35:08
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 824
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16015196
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ignitesthestars/pseuds/ignitesthestars
Summary: Personally, Rey doesn’t think she should be held accountable for the things she does when she thinks she might be about to die.





	accountability

Personally, Rey doesn’t think she should be held accountable for the things she does when she thinks she might be about to die.

(When they talk about it later, Rose emphatically agrees. Rey’s still not sure if that’s a comfort, knowing what she does about her relationship with Finn).

The point is, when your life is flashing before your eyes as often as it has been for for her lately, you start to notice certain themes. Both in the things you have experienced, and in the things you haven’t. And Poe Dameron is both a very handsome man, and an exceedingly kind one, and if she’s about to do something physically stupid by leaping out at a squad of Stormtroopers that have them pinned down, she might as well do something emotionally stupid as well.

“Wish me luck!” she pants, thumbing her lightsaber on. A comforting hum fills the air, lighting up the shock and concern on Poe’s face as he crouches down to avoid the enemy fire.

“Rey, what--”

She kisses him, messy and adrenaline filled and before he can do anything like ask about that or protest her plan (it’s not a plan) some more, she’s leaping over their steadily disintegrating cover, her double ended lightsaber flashing silver and purple in the dim light.

“You’re going to get yourself killed!” he protests, popping up to provide her cover fire before rolling behind some slightly sturdier crates.

“Not if I don’t!” she shouts back.

“ _Rey._ ”

She laughs, fuelled half by adrenaline and half by terror as she plows into the line of troopers. She’s still not used to this, the running headlong into danger and fighting for your life part of survival. Back on Jakku, fights were something to be avoided. 

They’re _still_ something to be avoided, but she’s statistically more likely to encounter them these days. And something has unlocked in her, maybe a little more vicious or maybe just a little more involved in the world that means she - well.

She does things like this.

The hum of her weapon turns into a whir, the troopers’ dying shrieks a direct counterpoint. Later she’ll have to deal with that guilt, the knowledge that there are real people under those masks, people like Finn who might be ready to change if they can just win an opportunity--

But right now she has to live. 

*

“You’re insane.” Poe’s eyes are bright and there’s a laugh on his lips as he runs towards her. His hands check her quickly for wounds - shoulders, sides, torso - before he pulls her into a hug. “Amazing, but insane.”

She’s breathless and not completely sure if it’s from exertion or something else. Maybe it’s better if she she doesn’t focus on that too much. Living in the moment is working out for her so far.

“Isn’t that a little rich coming from you, hotshot?”

“Hey, did you see me taking any stupid chances? I’ve grown. That was growth.”

His tone is light but she doesn’t miss the darker flicker in his gaze, and she hadn’t been oblivious to the steadfast way his blaster had backed her up instead of gunning for the larger targets himself. The decimation of the resistance had affected them all in different ways, and if it’s made Rey quicker to act, it seems like it’s made Poe Dameron a little slower, a little steadier.

From what she’s heard. She hadn’t known the man before. She likes the one in front of her now.

“I knew you’d have my back,” Rey says, abruptly aware that he hasn’t let her go, that her hands are pushed up against his chest, that she can feel the quick-beating thrum of his heart under them. “And neither of us were getting out if I didn’t do something.”

He nods, because they both know there are no perfect decisions in this war. And then he clears his throat, good humour tugging at the corner of his mouth. “You did a couple of things, if I’m remembering rightly.”

Heat floods Rey’s face. She considers pulling away, but Poe is too comfortable and too unbothered by what he’s referring to for her to commit to it. Her chin juts out stubbornly instead, raising an eyebrow at him. 

“You’re the one cradling me in your arms like I’m some kind of damsel in distress.”

“Well.” His hands slip from her back to her waist, but he doesn’t let go. His forehead knocks against hers and they’re grimy and sweat-soaked and she doesn’t care. “I could always let go, if you want.”

“Shut up, Dameron,” she says, because that’s a lot easier than _no, I don’t want you to._

He chuckles. Rey will maintain that she really can’t be blamed for the first kiss, but the second one - the second one where she closes the distance between them, mouth slanting over his sweet and sloppy and probably a bit off-centre--

That one’s probably her fault, yeah.


End file.
